Making baby powder...

[PearlyGirl]

Hello, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this.

I wanted to save some money by making my own baby powder and ao I made up a batch using only corn starch and some fragrance. It came out nice, smells great, but when I put it into the empty, large baby powder container--you know, the one with the holes that open and close when you twist the top?--well, it doesn't come out as smoothly as I'd like it to be.

I found a basic "recipe" online and it said to add baking powder, but I didn't have any ... other suggestions were to add arrowroot or orris root. And how much should be added?

Thanks!

 

[Kleine Teufel]

Personally, I'd omit the baking powder, especially if it's for sensitive skin. In my formulations for clay facial masks, I once used baking soda and it burned my face. My face is not sensitive at all, but that stuff burnt. After omitting the baking soda, the stuff was nice and soothing, so I do know for a fact that it was the baking soda that did it. :/ As for your actual question, hmmm... Seems like all of the nice soft stuff isn't as free-flowing. Commercial junk adds stuff to help it flow.

 

[Genny]

I'd skip the baking soda, too.

I use rice flour & Dry Flo powder on my little girl and my son.
The Dry Flo makes it flow nicely, they're both silky soft.
There's a debate about whether or not cornstarch can feed a yeast infection. I've had 2 different doctors give conflicting answers to this. So, I leave it out, just in case.


Also, I'd skip the fragrance. That will make the powder clumpy. Plus it could burn or irritate the baby's sensitive bottom.

 

[lsg]

Tapioca starch, Arrowroot Powder, Kaolin Clay, Chamomile Flower Powder, Lavender Buds Powder would also be nice in a baby powder formulation.

From Nature With Love has a herbal baby powder recipe:

http://www.fromnaturewithlove.com/recip ... ipe_id=192

I think I would leave out the mica, though.

 

[PearlyGirl]

Thank you so much for your replies! I'll be on the watch for any kind of infection or skin issues and will stop with the cornstarch powder I've already made.

The fragrance and the way I used it doesn't make things clumpy, and there has not been any kind of reaction to it either so I think that's going to be okay in the long run. I did a couple of sprays over the cornstarch and then mixed it, and then I sprayed a cotton ball and put it into the cornstarch (I had the cornstarch in a bowl) and mixed it in, let it set overnight--mixing it a couple more times. Then I removed the cotton ball before use. I used one of the lighter sprays from the local B&BWorks store.

I think I may do the Dry Flo and try the arrowroot powder.

Again, many thanks!

 

[Fragola]

I use rice flour & Dry Flo powder on my little girl and my son.
...
There's a debate about whether or not cornstarch can feed a yeast infection.

Any reason yeast would dislike rice starch ? After all, rice flour is mostly starch.

 

[Genny]

According to the one doctor I talked to, it's the sugar in the corn starch that feeds the yeast.
Rice flour does not contain sugar.

 

[fiddletree]

I'd use straight rice flour, I've also heard a lot of bad things about using corn starch as baby powder.

 

[Fragola]

According to the one doctor I talked to, it's the sugar in the corn starch that feeds the yeast.

Rice flour contains mostly from rice starch. Corn starch and rice starch are basically the same substance.

All starches are made from sugars.

Maybe some people think that only corn starch contains sugar, because they are thinking of corn syrup and are not aware of rice syrup. But rice syrup does exist, and it is quite sweet

 

[Genny]

White rice itself contains aprox 0.12 g of sugar/100g of rice.
Corn contains approx 3.22 g of sugar/100g of corn. Corn contains a substantially larger amount of sugar than rice.

I double checked my notes just now, though and I was wrong about it being the sugar that feeds the yeast infection. It's the gluten. Sorry about that.
But remember this was one doctor's opinion. The other docor said the gluten in corn does not feed a yeast infection. Also, corn gluten is not the same kind of gluten that affects Celiac Disease.

I've heard of rice syrup. My dd's allergic to cow milk, so she drinks rice milk. Rice syrup is what makes it sweet. I've never tried rice syrup by itself though. I might have to try it some day.

 

[Fragola]

Yes, corn and corn flour do contain sugar/gluten.

However other corn products, like corn oil or corn starch do not contain either. Cornstarch is marketed as a gluten free product.

 

[PearlyGirl]

Update

I picked up a small package of arrowroot powder today from the health food store and added it into the baby powder I already had made up, figuring I could use it on myself. Arrowroot has an odor I didn't like and it certainly didn't make "pouring" any easier! Well, maybe the arrowroot didn't quite stink, but it had a odor that I didn't find pleasant.

On to rice flour and Dry-Flo as my next experiment.

Thanks, everyone!

 

[Adema]

What about chick pea flour?

 

[Kleine Teufel]

Re: Update

I picked up a small package of arrowroot powder today from the health food store and added it into the baby powder I already had made up, figuring I could use it on myself. Arrowroot has an odor I didn't like and it certainly didn't make "pouring" any easier! Well, maybe the arrowroot didn't quite stink, but it had a odor that I didn't find pleasant.

On to rice flour and Dry-Flo as my next experiment.

Thanks, everyone!

That's odd. I've worked with a lot of arrowroot powder and I've never had a batch that had any odor to it.